More than 390 New York University Law students, students at other NYU schools, NYU faculty and alumni, non-profit and student organizations, intellectuals, experts, and other community members have signed a Statement of No Confidence in Harold H. Koh. The statement condemns NYU Law’s hiring of Harold Koh to teach International Human Rights Law in light of his role as a key legal architect of the Obama Administration’s drone program, which has claimed thousands of civilian lives across the globe.
On April 20, 2015, the students hosted a Roundtable Discussion titled "Beyond Empre: Drones, Targeted Killing and the Future of Human Rights." The panelists were:
Chase Madar: Contributor to the London Review of Books, Le Monde diplomatique, The Nation, The National Interest, The American Conservative, TomDispatch and elsewhere; author of The Passion of [Chelsea] Manning: The Story Behind the Wikileaks Whistleblower (2013). He is a graduate of NYU Law School (JD 2004) and a former staff attorney at Make the Road New York.
Mary Ellen O’Connell: Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of Dispute Resolution—Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. She was a vice president of the American Society of International Law (2010-2012) and chaired the International Law Association’s Committee on the Use of Force (2005-2010). Among her publications: What is War? An Investigation in the Wake of 9/11 (edited volume, 2012); The Power and Purpose of International Law (2008); International Law and the Use of Force, Cases and Materials (2d ed. 2009), and International Law and the “Global War on Terrorism” (2007).
Omar Shakir: Human Rights Lawyer and co-author of Living Under Drones, a joint Stanford Law – NYU Law report that documents the civilian consequences of US drone practices in Pakistan. Omar was previously a fellow at Human Rights Watch based in Cairo, where he investigated abuses in Egypt.
Marilyn Young: Professor of History at NYU. She is the author of Rhetoric of Empire: American China Policy, 1895–1901 (1969), with William Rosenberg, Transforming Russia and China: Revolutionary Struggle in the 20th Century (1980), The Vietnam Wars, 1945–1990 (1991), and one of the editors of Human Rights and Revolutions (2007).